How Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry ran roughshod over Texans’ usually stout defense, Michael Vick record surpassed

HOUSTON – Lamar Jackson insisted he was only jogging, not even running full speed on his long touchdown run as he accelerated away from a Texans’ defense pursuing him in vain.

The Baltimore Ravens’ multidimensional quarterback surpassed Michael Vick for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history with 6,110 career yards, one more than Vick, at the Texans’ expense.

And Jackson reached a maximum speed of 21.25 miles per hour for the highest speed of his career on a carry, according to Next Gen Stats analytics.

“For real?” Jackson replied. “I was jogging. I didn’t have to do anything.”

Jogging or sprinting, it didn’t matter as the Texans’ usually stout defense had no answers for Jackson or powerhouse running back Derrick Henry. It was an ugly, substandard performance by the defense as they allowed a season-high 251 rushing yards during a 31-2 meltdown of a loss on Christmas at NRG Stadium.

Silent night, ‘embarrassing’ night by Texans in blowout loss to Ravens on Christmas game at NRG Stadium

Between Henry punishing the defense for 147 yards on the ground on 27 carries with one touchdown and a 5.4 average and Jackson dashing away for 87 yards and a 48-yard score on four carries for a 21.8 average, the Ravens ran roughshod over a Texans defense that got exposed by a lack of gap integrity, poor pursuit angles and tackling problems against a talented opponent..

“Dual threat,” Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter said of Jackson. “They’re a great football team. Derrick Henry, he’s the best of the best for his position. The biggest thing we could do is game plan better.

“There wasn’t enough energy. So, I feel like the biggest thing we could do was just game plan better. We didn’t have that much energy at first. We tried to spark it, but it was already too late. We just have to lock in more.”

When asked about the obvious gap between the Texans and the Ravens, Hunter replied: “The best thing we can do is game plan better.”

In falling to 9-7 overall, the AFC South champions reached another crossroads. This time, the blame could be shared equally by an inept, anemic offense and a suddenly ineffective defense that had just one sack and five quarterback hits.

“I told all our guys just check themselves, starting with coaches and players,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, who calls the defensive signals. “You got to check yourself and are you getting it done or not? This game is going to come down to guys making plays. They had two exceptional playmakers on their side Lamar [Jackson] and Derrick Henry. They made plays and that was the game.”

Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr., one of the few defensive players who had a decent game with two tackles for losses and a sack he split with defensive tackle Tommy Togiai, was blunt in his evaluation of the shortcomings.

“It’s embarrassing,” Anderson said. “That’s not playoff football.”

The Texans now rank 12th in rushing defense after this setback.

They clearly miss injured defensive backs Jalen Pitre and Jimmie Ward, who are out for the season with pectoral and foot injuries, respectively, as well as linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who finished his three-game suspension for a controversial tackle on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Schematics and strategy played a role, too.

The Ravens executed wham blocks and had tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely in the backfield with Jackson and Henry as lead blockers and to distract the Texans’ defense with a different look.

Overall, though, the Texans couldn’t build a wall against the Ravens’ powerful running game.

“We’ve just got to be better up front,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to be able to know what’s coming. We have to be able to play it and adjust to it. And the D-line that we are, we have to look ourselves in the mirror and take the accountability for all our actions and some of that was on us. We have to do a better job of being more stout and knocking back and attacking.”

The Texans are 9-7 and the fourth seed in the AFC postseason. They could wind up facing the Pittsburgh Steelers in a home wild-card playoff game, at this rate.

Unless play improves, a quick exit from the playoffs seems likely.

“It sucks that we have to just keep on talking about the same thing week in week out with execution and being attention to detail,” Anderson said. “That’s really all it is. It’s not like a it’s not a lack of effort, it’s not a lack of want to. It’s just we’ve got to find a way to stop making these simple mistakes. I’m not sure. At this point of the season, we have to look in the mirror and do a better job. We’re all grown men and play this sport that we love. We have to find it in ourselves to fix those mistakes individually and as a team

The Texans face the Tennessee Titans to close out the regular season. The game might be meaningless, though, other than trying to improve their play and rest players.

“It’s really no excuses to be made,” Anderson said. “We just have to be better. We’re a playoff team, we have a playoff game coming up soon. We’ve got to play Tennessee. So, we have more than enough time to really get this thing figured out and see what type of team we want to be.”

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Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.